The vulture disappeared over the horizon, to be seen again in the distant future. The being that pretended to be one with the sun did not give chase. Retaining its act was more important as it synchronized with the sun's path like it was on rails. A play with no visible plot with everyone as the audience, assuming it followed the sun around the entire world.

One that the tortoise could not see until it became a demon. Or could it, simply choosing to ignore it or accept it as the norm. It's not like it could stop being a demon for a few seconds to check. For now, it was something that could be called the usual. What was once unfathomable became common sense.

The tortoise resumed its long walk to the oasis. The pressure to head in this direction was lifted but no reason to change the route came about. It had a one track mind that was focused on keeping a half a meters distance from the trench so as to not fall in again. If that happened, the tortoise would lose the opportunity to change direction if need be. An option that it didn't take but the pretense of choice was comforting nonetheless.

Meanwhile, the sole surviving human busied themselves with pushing dead weight overboard and assessing the damage to the ship. Dead weight being the other two humans now deceased. Left in the desert sands with naught to remember them by. Cruelly returned to nature just like that. It was also efficient, to the point that it had the boat back up and running within a few minutes. Like that it drove off in the opposite direction.

Blazing a new trail off into the unknown that the tortoise wanted nothing to do with now that it was free. Try as it might, the tortoise would eventually reunite with humans and their mechanisms. Perhaps years later after scouring and ravaging across these wastes. Or even a few days as there were two other boats full of humans that had gone ahead when he first met them.

This question of when was resolved by a low rumble accompanied by a sea of dust. The boat was back, driving ahead only to turn around. Why make a new path when one could just retrace their steps. Realizing this, the tortoise fled away from the trenches and was assisted by the resulting sand screen. By the time the boat stopped beside the tortoise's position, it had managed to create some distance or at least the illusion as such.

The human hopped out of the boat and caught up to it with just a few steps. There was a fundamental difference in their pace. Giving up on fleeing, the tortoise faced the human, ready to strike at a moment's notice. However, no attacks came from either side yet the standoff resolved itself.

The human was once completely covered in white cloth, obscuring their features. Now, splotches of red and tears adorned the fabric. Most noticeably, their face was revealed. Dark skin, male, and strikingly red eyes. The red within their eyes belied what they were.

Man and tortoise united under a common front of being demons. A temporary alliance was formed. Two small demons versus the rest of the world. With that out of the way, the tortoise willingly let itself be lifted back into the boat. The humanoid demon struggled a bit with this as there weren't any other humans to help, but by balancing the tortoise on its knee, it finally managed to drag it aboard.

There the humanoid opened one of the boxes in the back and threw its contents off the ship, a bag full of locusts. They were still surviving even in captivity and close quarters via cannibalism. Then the tortoise was placed into the now empty box, or rather, on top of it. It couldn't fit as the box was too small. Instead of testing a larger box, the humanoid gave up and restarted the ship.

A few hours later, the ship was back at the oasis and the sun was starting to set. It was hard to imagine everything that happened in just this one day. The boat allowed vast distances to be covered within a short period of time. Which begs the question of how it can do this.

There was no water for the boat to travel in and the soft topsoil only extended a few centimeters. It needed something powerful to propel it and not wind as that's too unreliable. Some sort of engine hidden beneath the surface and a device for pushing it forwards. The ship's design itself was very aerodynamic with the front of the ship cutting through both air and ground while the curves redirect the split elements.

The boat rejoined its place on the original path made up of three trenches and headed towards its original destination. An ominous smile graced the humanoid demon's face as it steered the boat. The dark color of his skin having nothing to do with its identity as a demon. Rather, it was a protection against the sun's rays, complimented by white clothing to counteract the ease of darker colors absorbing heat from the sun. An adaptation that both helped and harmed him within his natural environment made up for with intelligence.

At one point, one of the three paths, separate from the one they were on, diverged a bit and went through another oasis, one slightly smaller than the one the tortoise lived at. One common thing between the two was that they were barren. Like the other oasis, it had been cleared by locusts who were then collected by humans. Insects could serve as an invaluable source of protein in a desert.

The humans came with the intention of harvesting these locusts like they harvested everything in sight. Judging by the well made boat paths smoothed by frequent use, locust infestations weren't too uncommon. There was even the possibility that the outbreaks were orchestrated by them. After all, there weren't many things of value to humans in an oasis other than water. Locusts could turn something useless into a viable resource that could be exploited again and again as the land recovers.

The boat continued onwards and deep in the night the path curved to the side, the opposite end doing the same in the other direction. The central path went through a third oasis while the other paths went around. The situation with this one was the same as the others but bigger. Almost twice the size of the first oasis while being just as devoid of life. No, a few stray locusts hopped about, having avoided capture. In a way the two demons were like these locusts, seeking to destroy everything while everything else tried to kill them, only getting by because they were insignificant and there were more than a boatful of other demons to catch.